S.J. Pearce

Ugh, I posted my goodnight Muppet gif and just kept on doomscrolling. For keeps this time.

an image promoting a substack article titled ‘25 medieva manuscripts you can look at online right now’

i made a starter back of beautiful and unique manuscripts you can browse online! (with links) for anyone that wants a good way to spend an afternoon :)

open.substack.com/pub/weirdmed...

The future of the GOP is Nazi. People still aren't paying attention.

When you sit down to write an essay or a long overdue email to a friend or even a snappy post for this website, you relish the feeling of the words at the tips of your fingers, tumbling into place like the tumblers in a safe. We say “it clicks”for a reason, right? It’s unique and it’s you, right? —>

Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text Discovery sheds new light on how famed astronomer came to lead a scientific revolution

I love everything about this! The conviction that a major figure was not struck by a bolt of lightning but worked to understand the system he would ultimately critique and help dismantle. The scholarly sleuthing rare books — all of it. 😎🤓
www.science.org/content/arti...

This isn’t even the one who broke a veteran’s arm at a presser!

Americans are dead. Prices are skyrocketing. The Middle East is on fire. Civil war is brewing in Iran.

And for what? A war that will leave the same hardliners in charge? A war that can't actually destroy their nuclear program?

This is incompetence. Plain and simple.

I don’t know you, please don’t hop into my TL, mansplain, and condescend.

I didn’t want to watch the video.

You don’t have to agree.

🧵

No Help and Few Options for Travelers Stranded by Mideast Conflict

One woman who called the State Department helpline looking for help said they told her to "stop ranting and raving" and hung up on her.

Another woman said they asked her how to spell Oman.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/t...

There was a moment in the not-too-distant past that members of both parties would have been, rightly, screamingly angry about this and might have even tried to do something to hold the senator accountable. We’re not in that moment now, though.

A man asked me last night what publishing needs to do for literary fiction to begin appealing to men again. I said, as nicely as I could, that, with over 2,000 books published every Tuesday, of which many would appeal to men, it’s not a publishing problem, it’s a men problem.

never, ever, ever, ever accept "how will you pay for it?" as an argument against social programs.

Montana Sen. Sheehy gets in altercation with veteran anti-war protester on Capitol Hill • Daily Montanan Montana Sen. Sheehy gets in altercation with veteran anti-war protester

A sitting US senator broke the arm of a marine veteran protesting at his press conference and later claimed that was his way of “de-escalating” the situation. This is the doublethink that got us into a fifteen-country shooting war for peace. dailymontanan.com/2026/03/04/m...

Hey folks:

I've been asked to publicize an event.

Next Tuesday, March 10, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and I will be speaking about resistance at a panel hosted by the New York Philharmonic.

7:00 PM at the David Rubenstein Atrium, Broadway between 62nd and 63rd.

It's free.
Join us!

Spent four hours in the ER with my daughter (she's fine!) and overheard the patient on the other side of the little curtain -- a college student freaking out because she has midterms and can't waste time getting treated.

Students, take care of yourself. I promise you, your profs will understand.

The Archivist Who Followed the Problem A decade of Lise Jaillant — from modernist bookshops to born-digital government archives, and everything she learned along the way.

A really interesting read with many important points, the most critical of which is how to change a profession entrenched in traditions that are at odds with users' needs.

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein. The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude” www.science.org/content/arti...

The academic and publishing landscapes have changed a lot since we started this magazine. We've stuck to the same principles we started with:

History is for everyone.

Every way of doing history is worthwhile.

Historians should be paid for their work.

We did all pitch in to cover the missed pay period and then the families that were hoping to keep the school running paid the teachers week to week through December. But yeah, you said it — not my Jewish values for sure.

Lindsey Graham: "The whole idea is for it to not be imminent, dumbass. You want it prevent it from being imminent."

Understatement of the day, this is really bad. Trying to bring about the end times makes casualties across the board range from necessary to desirable.

👇🧵

(But happy birthday!)

Every year I hope Ivanka will take the right lesson away from Megillat Esther and this year I’m just thinking, no chance *and* Jared’s going to leave shul affirmed in the absolute rightness of killing Persians…

🧵

A LATE-BREAKING TT JOB.....

Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Toronto

Archaeology of the Levant (from south-central Türkiye to northwestern Saudi Arabia) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (3,000 to 500 BCE),

universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...